You all thought this was a good idea…
When I asked, you all thought it’d be fun for me to do a day-in-my-life post. Well, here it is! NaNoWriMo edition…
11.8.19
|7:00 am|
Mornings are my favorite part of the day. It’s my chance to start my day right, and it’s probably the most relaxing part of my day.
Once I brushed my teeth, washed my face, etc., I made my bed and just generally made sure my room is organized. Preferably, I would clean my room the night before, but ya know how it goes…
|7:15am|
Then it’s Bible time. I usually start my essential oil diffuser (orange oil is one of my favorites) and enjoy the scent while I read, but I didn’t today . This year, I’ve been going through the Bible chronologically. Today I read Proverbs 22-24. I’ve also been using the SOAP method to study (stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, & Prayer). I like to listen to Helen Jane Long’s Porcelain album during Bible time; just focuses my mind and gets me into the mood.
|7:45am|
Now I took some time to check my email, answer emails, comments, check some of my social media platforms and catch up on friends’ posts. That takes about 15-20 minutes, then I do some of my daily house chores.
|8:15am|
Piano time is one of my favorites times too! 😀 I play around a lot on the piano outside of actually practice time. But anyway, now I just work on the songs I’m working on for my teacher, including a couple pieces for a piano recital that was coming up.
|9:00am|
No, I haven’t eaten breakfast at this point. I’m usually not that hungry in the mornings, and I most likely will just grab something quick to eat while I work.
Now I took a full hour to work on taking photos for Instagram. This usually takes a bit because I take pictures at my desk, which means EVERYTHING has to come off, I have to plug in my fairy lights and lighting and get my matte boards. Here’s a sneak peak into what that looked like on this day…
Usually it’s more of a mess with all my props and everything. XD
|10:00am|
After taking photos and putting my desk area back to normal, I took about an hour to just write a bunch of blog posts. I worked a lot of the Writer to Author blog series coming soon (click here if you want access to that), which I am super excited to share with you guys!
|11:00am|
Ah, the first meal of the day. 😉 I made lunch and ate with my family…
|12:30pm|
I had to take some time to take care of some projects around the house, cleaning, laundry, etc.
|2:00pm|
Next I did some beta reading for a friend. Since it’s NaNo, I had to make sure I blocked time for beta reading so I finished on the deadline the author requested.
|3:00pm|
Ah, finally writing time…
Aaand procrastination and lack of motivation ate up a lot of it. I only got a bout 1k words written, but wasn’t feeling super motivated to write so I bounced back and forth from it to writing blog posts, random website stuff, etc.
Well, that was most of my day for you! It wasn’t an ideal writing day, but I still got some done. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my daily life. 🙂 Just curious, would you all be interested in more of these kinds of day-in-the-life posts?
The Writer to Author blog series…
In case you missed it…
I mentioned a little while ago about a new blog series for writers wanting to start treating writing like a business and set themselves up for success in publishing. In case you missed it, below is the link to the survey so you can add your input on what this series will talk about. I can’t wait to receive your feedback!
Write to Author Blog Series Survey
Another quick note: this blog series will be accessible by password only. Email subscribers automatically get sent the access code (NOT WordPress Reader subscribers, unfortunately). So If you’re excited about this series and want to gain access, then CLICK HERE to get the password!
NaNoWriMo Update no. 3
11/14/19-11/20/19
This week went fairly well. 🙂 Week three was a little easier than week two. My motivation levels were higher, and the fact that I’m excited about scenes to come in my book kept driving me forward. I’m planning on doing extra some days to give me some cushion for Thanksgiving (and maybe even the day after?).
And the end looms on the horizon. As I type madly, I glance over my shoulder at the deadline slowing closing in for the kill.
Ahem.
Words written this week: 12,158
Total words written: 35,642
How is your writing going this month? I hear some have already crested the mountain of 50k words. Are you one of these brave immortals?
What’s your favorite part of the day? Do you have any productivity hacks/tips?
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13 Comments
Agh your routine is so PRODUCTIVE and PUT TOGETHER 😭😭 seriously though, it sounds like you had an awesome day!! I loved traveling along with you throughout your routine 💛
😀 I wish all of my days were like that! XD But thanks for reading, Ash! I’m so glad you enjoyed this post. <3
OH MY GOODNESS, JENNA, I LOVED THIS POST! The stock photos for every time frame just made my soul happy and I absolutely loved the layout of the post and the peek into your day. I would LOVE to see more daily life posts! Those are so fun and inspiring. I love gleaning inspiration from fellow writers’ lifestyles!
Also, I had a quick question if you have time to give any advice… you’re 19, right? Do you still live at home or have any plans to live elsewhere? I’m only 16 and pretty worried that once I turn 19 (I’m graduating high school a yearish late) I’ll have to go straight into Bible college and not have much time for writing—the career of my dreams is to be a bestselling traditionally published Christian author. 🙁 How do you manage your time, life, and writing career as an adult now?
I hope that’s okay to ask! You’re so inspiring! No worries if those are too personal questions!
Madi
AH THANK YOU SO MUCH, MADISON! Your comment made me smile. <3
Yes, I'm 19. I do still live at home; not going to college or doing it online. I'm sort of piecing together my post-high school education; writing, business/marketing, horsemanship, a little photography. So yes, not doing college leaves me with a lot more time to write. I've found that calendar blocking helps a lot with my productivity, just setting certain amounts of time each day for different things (plus limiting my random phone time, i.e. scrolling through Pinterest 😉 ). A lot of times, when schedules are tight, I have to let go of some recreational activity (like reading or watching a TV show) to write. Sometimes that also means getting up a smidge earlier to get some words in before having to get into the rest of the day's schedule.
I hope that helps some! I certainly have room for improvement here and I'm still learning, but feel free to email me if you want to talk about this more. 🙂
Hi Madison Grace,
I read your comment and as a girl who is 26 I thought I would offer you a piece of my own experience. I graduated high school a little late myself and then I moved away from home and went to college. I don’t think going to college should be a require for all individuals, but I am glad I went myself. However, if you do go to college, at least in my own experience, I was working and doing school along with serving in my church, so I really didn’t have time to do a lot of writing outside of school. But if you love writing enough then you will continue to pursue it even if in smaller ways. I tried to do my best during that season of my life to keep up journaling and blogging.
Now I am 26 and I am just now having the time to really sit and write fiction. Nothing is published yet, but I am finally pursuing a long time dream. If your dream is to be a writer, but you do want to go to college then don’t be discouraged if your dream of being a writer takes a little longer. Don’t get overly anxious about how it will workout. Take the next step that God leads you into and if your dreams are his will for your life then he will open that door when the time comes.
I hope that is encouraging!
Thank you SO much, Jenna and Hannah! That was definitely super helpful and I will keep your advice in mind 💖 Thanks to you both for taking the time!!
Jenna,
Such a fun post! Just curious, are all the photos on your blog, photos you took or are they from elsewhere? I am not very good at photography myself so I mostly end up snagging pictures from Unsplash, but I admire those who can take their own pictures. 😉 Also, you didn’t mention drinking a cup of coffee in the morning. Are you not a coffee drinker? 😉
Thanks, Hannah! No, those are all free photos from WordPress. I do dabble in photography, but not well enough to take all the photos that I need for blogging. 🙂 Aaaaand yes…I’m a coffee drinker. Not a big one, and I drink it for the taste, not the caffeine (I do try to limit my coffee intake). I didn’t drink coffee that morning, I just the liked that photo. 😉
Oh, nice! I didn’t realize WordPress had free pictures you could use. That is cool!
I usually drink a cup of coffee in the morning, but I think it helps me start my day and gives me something to look forward to in the morning when I am still half a sleep. I am called a coffee snob because I like to grind my own beans. Haha! But I cannot drink it black. I have to add a little bit of milk and sugar to my coffee.
I think that’s so cool that you grind your own beans! 👍 Yup, I need milk and some sort of sweetener in my coffee too. Actually, my coffee drink is usually 85% milk and a little coffee. 😁 ☕️
Yes, It is a lot of fun to grind my own beans, although I think I do it more for the fun rather then that I taste a noticeable difference. My youngest sister will have coffee every once in a while and do it in a similar way; a drop of coffee with a lot of sweet creamer and milk. 😉
I loved this!! I’m not huge on breakfast either. 😂 Your routine feels so organized! 👍
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😀 <3